Oregon State Beavers rundown: A healthy Jordan Poyer is a must if OSU hopes to recapture defensive glory

OSU photo by Ethan EricksonOregon State can always get this kind of return - of an interception against BYU - out of Jordan Poyer.

Oregon State senior cornerback Jordan Poyer may be tough, but nobody is indestructible.

So Beavers coach Mike Riley acknowledged Tuesday that it might be in the team's best interests if he refrained from repeatedly sending Poyer sprinting directly toward 11 large people sprinting in the opposite direction.

"The point is well-taken, we have to be selective in what we do,'' Riley said when asked whether some kick return load would have to be taken off Poyer's plate this season.

But the thought of taking Poyer, also one of the best gunners around, off the field was just too much.

"I’d like to play him at wildcat quarterback,'' Riley said.

It's true that a good corner is hard to find, and a team needs good cornerback play more than it needs a good return game.

"There’s no quicker way to get beat than a guy not playing very smart on the corner,'' Riley said.

Riley switched Jovan Stevenson from running back to cornerback on the first day of camp, and the corner spot is still thin. Recruiting hasn't yielded many corners of late, but as the coach pointed out, sometimes you have to look elsewhere for a good corner.

"They don’t always come from guys in high school that are playing corner,'' Riley said. "Look at our two guys (Poyer and Rashaad Reynolds), they were both high school quarterbacks.''

Mark Banker isn't a stat guy, but the OSU defensive coordinatorhas very specific numbers in mind for his defense, and those are numbers the Beavers haven't come close to posting for a couple of years now.

The Beavers may be catching Wisconsin at a good place (Corvallis) and a good time (off-field troubles of running back Montee Ball and others), but it's still Wisconsin, and the Badgers still don't have any offensive linemen lighter than 320 pounds.

Will we be seeing former OSU baseball player Stefen Romero playing third base in Seattle soon? Romero knocked in two more runs Tuesday night for the Double-A Jackson Generals - that's five straight games with an RBI for Romero, whose OPS at Jackson is an astounding 1.024. Did you catch this rather thorough scouting report on Romero?